Wednesday, December 26, 2007

was shooting for a petition against the law that will be realized by 2008, that so called "wild" placarding is illegal. they used to tolerate it until now.. but since the european championship of soccer will be in austria 2008, the want to "clean" the city up..

in the end it's not just ridiculous but will also mean that many people will lose their job and comissions for placarding.. mostly people and companies that don't have the budget to make advertising via the "gewista" the one and only company that will placard legal by 2008. it's so to say an organized monopole that is supported by the social democrats, the strongest party in vienna.

in short. it's pretty crap !

so i was taking some photos of what was going on in that scene in the last days.. hope to shoot more with them, especially in 2008 when the gewista will send out their "scouts" to catch the other placaders out there... pretty incredible.

the gewista itself commissioned to glue placards saying "no placarding!", as a sort of foretaste of 2008.. so they used the time when it was still legal to placard.. by posting these saying it is not. maybe some sort of tactics to make people believe that placarding is an illegal act, which isn't till 2008 of course.

so they started this petition or action against this law and the gewista.

the following were for the press itself. staged so to say.

an old man joined. he wanted to get some attention obvioulsy. he was posing for the cameras.. the big ones.. not for me. he didn't even notice me (what i like)... so i took a photo of all together.. cute scene.

the main photo for the press. all people who are holding the posters will probably lose their jobs and companies with all employees by 2008.. their business which was legal (they payed taxes, registered trade...) will be illegal from one day to another.

one of them showing me this tape-construction. he says they're not produced anymore nowadays.

interview in the next cafe.

because of the EM2008, they're cleaning up. only coca cola, mc-donnalds.. fuji.. whatever i don't know will be allowed to advertise in vienna that time.

for 2 days you could see these posters in most inner districts at nearly every corner. i was not going to take photos everywhere.. these are just my favs.. maybe because these are places i visit quite often.

just one day after.. they were removed. of course neither the social democrats nor the gewista are pleased by these posters and their messages... but i hope that the action will turn even more agressive.. also for international people in english.. more with keywords as "corruption" etc.. things that really hurt. i mean, they can't lose anymore.. they allready have lost their jobs by 2008...

same place, next day.

just walking around in vienna.

this dog seemed kinda big to me..

cheese !

look who i met ! i used his 40/1.4 voigtlander here. at 1.4. the focus is perfect. of course, since both is voigtlander.. so if you're shooting bessa.. better use voiglander lenses and if you shoot leica, don't use voigtlander lenses.. use leitz and zeiss.

been to some christmas partys.

one was more art-orientated.. well actually all xmas partys are alcohol and buffet orientated... we know that.

there was this naked woman on a cigar. i don't want to know the price for this work of modern art but it's sure more than i will ever ask for anything probably ;)

on my way to the next party. saw this. i think if i call it "selfportrait" it will be art... right ? j/k maybe cancer is the better title... but it's just a photo. right. so titles are senseless.

the agencys party. much less sophisticated. cool somehow.

then the film went out... and i went to another insider party. it was pretty white then.

so i loaded the next one at 12:30am. didn't sleep. took a self portrait before i went to bed to remind myslef what i can look like sometimes.

decided to get rid of a few things i use to collect... like these old rolls of film

and a bunch of crap prints i produced in the early times... must have been hundreds..

kitchen. new stuff.

going out the night before christmas.

funny. exactly one year ago we were doing the same. playing pool at the portrait. i think that shot is pretty nice.. but doesn't change the fact that i'm wasting lots of film lately... still shooting.. dunno why.

"out of order" i think it's pretty clear. well at least to me. people still tried to urinate there. this proves that there are stupid people out there... really stupid.

maybe the same guy drove through there...

that's somehow "wild". took this for mr.wild aka zort.

the best christmastree this year. kinda reflecting how anti-christmas christmas time is.

I've been watching your work for some years now, you've been my favorite modern street photographer for as long as i've been in the game...maybe it's time to say something? Maybe because I am kind of drunk.You are a huge inspiration to me and when you said you've been wasting lots of film lately...that's when I had to step in. Please don't think anything you shoot is a waste of film...that's what I do, but normally it IS a waste because I am too poor to come by film often and I‘m a terrible photographer. But your work makes me keep pushing forward because I know I can capture similar images...I see the photos, it's just a matter of snagging it onto film. Please ignore me, I'm a drunk, retarded American.But please....keep shooting.